SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF ENGLISH RELIGIOUS TERMINOLOGY: TOWARD A THEONYMIC DICTIONARY IN UZBEK

ISSN: 2582-4686 SJIF 2021-3.261,SJIF 20222.889, 2024-6.875 ResearchBib IF: 9.948 / 2024 VOLUME-5, ISSUE-11 729 SEMANTIC AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF ENGLISH RELIGIOUS TERMINOLOGY: TOWARD A THEONYMIC DICTIONARY IN UZBEK Elmurodova Sohiba Saidmurodovna Karshi State University At present, religion has become an important factor in social life, maintaining its position in the sociopolitical sphere. However, its significance varies under different socio-political systems. There are also many states where religion serves as the leading ideology. In a number of countries around the world, religion is striving to strengthen its political influence. The study of religion (religious studies) began to develop as a new academic field in our country after independence. Before that period, there were limited opportunities to conduct comprehensive scientific research in this field. Moreover, the possibilities of studying the works carried out abroad, especially in the West, were also restricted. Today, the need to develop multifaceted relations with countries around the world has become increasingly important. In order to accomplish this task, it is of great significance to study the languages and religious beliefs of foreign peoples. In Europe, the study of religion emerged as a distinct discipline in the second half of the 19th century, separating from philosophy, sociology, and psychology. The works of Western scholars such as the German philosopher Max Müller (1823–1900), the French positivist philosopher and sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), the English ethnologist and scholar of religion Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917), the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), as well as M. Weber and Ch. de Saussure, laid the foundations for this science. Many of these works were written in English, while major works in German and French were later translated into English. Although opportunities for conducting research on religious studies were limited in our country during the mid-20th century, consistent studies were being carried out in the West. Religion was analyzed from social, psychological, and philosophical perspectives, with attention given to its functions within society. For this purpose, scholars sought to study world religions objectively, utilizing the latest achievements of history and ethnography. The results of such research were presented in major works, monographs, pamphlets, articles, and encyclopedic publications. In the modern era, known as the “Information Age,” access to many of these works has become possible through the Internet, which has to some extent solved the problem of obtaining information. However, in some cases, the language barrier still prevents Uzbek readers from fully utilizing the information they have found. Indeed, to date, numerous textbooks, phrasebooks, and dictionaries for learning English have been published. The existing English–Uzbek dictionaries and textbooks are generally of a general or encyclopedic nature or are devoted to a particular field. However, among them, there are no dictionaries specifically designed for the field of religious studies. A student, learner, or researcher engaged in stu dying or conducting research in this field usually relies on general-purpose dictionaries when working with English-language materials. However, a word that carries a certain meaning in another field may convey an entirely different concept in religious terminology. For example, the English word celestial in general usage means “heavenly” or “sky-blue,” whereas in religious contexts it may signify “divine,” “sacred,” or “holy.” Such semantic differences are not always indicated in general dictionaries. Similarly, the English word fast, which generally denotes ISSN: 2582-4686 SJIF 2021-3.261,SJIF 20222.889, 2024-6.875 ResearchBib IF: 9.948 / 2024 VOLUME-5, ISSUE-11 730 “quickness” or “speed,” carries the meaning of “to fast, to observe fasting” in religious terminology. Although this meaning appears in most major dictionaries, the specific contexts in which it conveys “to fast” can only be properly understood through specialized dictionaries that provide authentic examples from religious sources. Certain works have been carried out in foreign languages to assist learners in mastering English religious vocabulary. For instance, the English–Russian Theological Dictionary compiled by S. A. Matveev in 2006 contains about 30,000 entries intended for Russian-speaking readers. The dictionary includes terminology related to three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The main section of the dictionary occupies 742 pages (pp. 17–758), of which 714 pages (96%) are devoted to Judaism and Christianity, while only 28 pages (4%) cover Islamic terminology. This can be explained, on the one hand, by the fact that Judaism and especially Christianity are more widespread among English-speaking nations, and on the other, by the greater number of scholarly studies on these two religions available in English. Moreover, most of the Islamic terms in the dictionary are transliterations of Arabic words rendered in English script. From this, it follows that the terminology of a given religion tends to develop mainly in the language of the people among whom that religion has spread. Therefore, in order to study a particular religion in depth, it is important to learn the language in which it was first formed. For example, the study of Vedic religions requires knowledge of Sanskrit, Judaism requires Hebrew, and Islam requires Arabic. Nevertheless, linking a religion exclusively to a single national language would be incorrect, as religious concepts often transcend linguistic boundaries. For instance, notions such as faith, belief, virtue, sin, paradise, and hell are found in almost all world religions. However, these words cannot always be rendered by a single equivalent when translated into another language. In such cases, foreign words are often borrowed directly as religious terms, since theological terminology frequently acquires the status of proper nouns. For example, translating the word apostles—the disciples of Jesus in Christianity—as sahobas (companions of the Prophet) in Uzbek would be incorrect. The accepted term in religious studies is havariylar (from “apostles”). In some cases, sections of the Bible are translated into Uzbek by analogy with the Qur’an, using the terms sura or ayah. However, this approach is not scientifically accurate, as such terms have their own etymology, history, and semantic context. Therefore, the creation of a comprehensive theonymic dictionary in Uzbek remains one of the primary challenges. The study of lexical and thematic groups is not new to Uzbek linguistics. Considerable research has been carried out on kinship terminology, verbs of motion, color adjectives, building names, and other categories. However, divine names and other lexemes associated with them have remained largely unexplored. The study of theonymic vocabulary is of interest not only to linguistics and philology but also to history, philosophy, and theology. One of the initial challenges in studying theonymic lexicon is compiling a complete and accurate list of words belonging to specific lexical and thematic groups. Words such as God, Lord, Almighty, and the Creator represent distinct entities referring to the divine being, yet their equivalence to the “Primordial Programmer” lexeme proposed by O. N. Laguta in lexicography complicates the problem, as multiple variants may exist for a single concept across translations—an issue that itself requires further study. Another challenge a translator may face lies in dealing with linguistic uniqueness in each language. Religious language is closely intertwined with the culture of its speakers. Some theological terms ISSN: 2582-4686 SJIF 2021-3.261,SJIF 20222.889, 2024-6.875 ResearchBib IF: 9.948 / 2024 VOLUME-5, ISSUE-11 731 such as God, Divinity, Lord, Creator, and Savior have near-exact equivalents in many languages: Greek (Θεóς, Θεότης, Κύριος, Ποιησάς, Σωτήρ), Latin (Deus, Divinitas, Dominus, Creator, Salvator), Polish (Bóg, Bóstwo, Pan, Stwórca, Zbawca), and Russian (Бог, Господь, Всевышний, Творец, Спаситель). Religious vocabulary develops in relation to other religious lexicons, especially when speakers of two languages share the same faith. One of the key features of this process is the adoption of loanwords from other languages. For instance, the Church Slavonic Almighty derives from the Greek Παντοκράτωρ (panta – “all,” kratein – “to have power, to rule”), retaining the original meaning of the source word even after borrowing through Latin. Studying such vocabulary requires the researcher to be familiar with multiple languages. It should also be noted that the donor and recipient languages do not always exhibit exact equivalence. For example, the three Greek words Ποιησάς, Ποιητής, and Κτίσας correspond to a single English lexical item, Savior, while in another case, the Latin word Pater corresponds to two English equivalents: Father and Begetter. Another important aspect of studying religious vocabulary is the grammatical characterization of divine names in a given language. For instance, the English word God represents a single paradigm with a unified stem of soft consonants, while Trinity can reflect both masculine and feminine grammatical genders, as seen in prayer texts: “From sleep risen, I thank Thee, O Holy Trinity, Thou Thy much for the sake of goodness and patience Thou be angry at me and sinner…” Here, the adjective Holy modifies Trinity (feminine), whereas the verbal phrase Thou be angry (masculine) demonstrates gender variation. In some cases, religious terms appearing in sacred texts are derived from other belief systems. For example, the name Jesus Christ is also associated with the Latin term Oriens (“Sunrise”), which appears in Catholic morning and noon prayers. It should be remembered that religious vocabulary in any language is inherently dynamic. Changes in people’s religious life and the development of theological thought have contributed to the emergence of new concepts and expressions. Moreover, the continuous use of such words in our language over centuries has altered their position within the lexical system and across various textual genres. Despite the progress achieved in lexicology and lexicography, the study and translation of religious vocabulary have not yet been fully established as a systematic area of research. This topic still remains an open field, awaiting comprehensive scholarly exploration. References: 1. Лагута О.Н. Метафора как исследовательский объект медиевальной и современной науки // Τέχνη γραμματική. Выпуск 1-й, посвящённый 90-летию доктора филологических наук профессора Новосибирского государственного университета Кирилла Алексеевича Тимофеева. - Новосибирск, 2004. 2. Orthodox Prayer Book and the Book of Psalms. - Barnaul, 1990. 3. Stasiuk A. Religious Latin vocabulary (based on the New Vulgate and Liturgy of the Hours). – Τέχνη γραμματική. - Vol. Three. - Novosibirsk, 2008. 4. Тимофеев К.А. Религиозная лексика русского языка, как выражение христианского мировоззрения. - Новосибирск, 2001. 5. Muller V.K. Modern English-Russian dictionary.- M., 2007.